Dubai
With 2 million square feet in development, the UAE has the highest concentration of new shopping areas across Europe, Middle East and Africa. New mall projects at MBR (Mohammad Bin Rashid) City and a steady stream of community centres in Dubai is pushing up the tally, as are ambitious mall developments in the northern emirates.
“Development activity in the retail sector remains buoyant with approximately 1 million square metres of gross leasable area set to be handed over between 2017 and 2019,” said Mat Green, Head of Research and Consulting, CBRE M.E.
A total of 1 million square metres of new shopping centre space was completed across Europe, the Middle East and Africa in the first six months of the year with a further 11.1 million square metres currently under construction, according to CBRE. Turkey, UAE and Russia are the most active in terms of new developments and accounted for more than 50 per cent of under construction projects in 2017.
“Retail demand in Dubai remains heavily orientated towards major shopping centres, with prime malls continuing to demonstrate very high occupancy rates and more stable leasing rates,” said Green.
